The Shadowed Legacy of the Soulless Messenger [EN]: Chapter 481

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

Jibek noticed something was wrong by looking at Azadin’s complexion.

“It seems something has happened in the south… in Arangi.”

“Yes?”

“The Holy Knights are using divine magic on a large scale.”

When Azadin took over the Banreung Kingdom, there were hardly any Holy Knights or priests of the King’s Church.

At that time, only the Rescue Knights were on Azadin’s side, and the divine magic used by the priests of the Rescue Knights did not put much burden on Azadin.

However, in the Arangi Kingdom, the priests and Holy Knights of the King’s Church remained intact.

This was because Azadin had made the Arangi Kingdom a vassal state, but he had left the royal family and church organization untouched without purging them.

But now, they were using divine magic in rapid succession.

Seeing them using so much divine magic suddenly, something must have happened in the Arangi Kingdom.

And that wasn’t the only anomaly that occurred.

“Your Majesty. In front…”

“Yes.”

Azadin had an artificial spirit called Araiel’s Voice floating in the sky to observe the surroundings, and he was able to spot a large army moving through the harsh blizzard.

A large army that had bypassed Changgok Pass was approaching Azadin’s group.

It seemed unlikely that people would be wandering outside in this strong wind, but they were grotesque figures covered in huge furs, like monsters.

It was King Sebalhan of Chitai and his corrupted Nether forces.

“Let’s take a look.”

Azadin sent Araiel’s Voice to scout the middle of the enemy camp.

It was an enormous number of troops.

At least 10,000 of them were advancing without any special supplies, and it seemed they had been eating each other for sustenance, as the path they had taken was littered with blood and bone fragments.

The snow was covering the remains, but the scale of the predation was so large that even the current snowfall could not completely hide the traces.

And among those Nether forces, there were spiders.

Grotesque, deformed spiders were clinging to human bodies, taking root in their nervous systems, and using Nether magic to bring Sebalhan’s army here.

“A grotesque spider is clinging to a human body, and that thing is using Nether magic.”

When Azadin spoke to his vassals, the elves were startled and replied.

“It must be Atra’s parasitic spider! A high-ranking apostle! It’s the work of the Great Mother… no, Great Mother Agillia!” [Atra and Agillia are likely names of deities or powerful figures in this world.]

The elves, who had been freed from torture by Azadin, were trying to prove their loyalty to him.

“I see. So it’s the Telbarin Guild’s doing? I had a feeling.”

“Your Majesty. Please give us a chance to clear our name!”

“We will go to the front and surely kill the enemies!”

The elf warriors volunteered to be at the front.

“No, if you rush to the front now, you’ll all freeze to death… ah…”

Azadin stopped speaking, pressing his temple with his hand and closing his mouth.

In Arangi, in Karasar and Tarasar, and in other places around the world, the priests of the King’s Church were using miracles in Azadin’s name.

Every time that happened, Azadin suffered.

‘How did Emperor Yaeslart endure this alone?’

As Azadin had that question, Araiel’s Voice within him answered.

[He didn’t endure it alone. He sacrificed countless members of his own clan. He oppressed his political enemies, exploiting their life force, soul, and flesh to protect his own divinity. The Herald Clan doesn’t even think of criticizing the Emperor, but objectively speaking, he is someone who killed his own clan for his ambition.]

On the other hand, Azadin had not yet taken all the thrones, and he placed the ideology of the Rescue Knights’ Cultivation School [a school of thought or practice focused on self-improvement and spiritual development] before the position of the Divine King.

He who wished for all people to save themselves through wisdom had become the Divine King, and that contradiction tormented Azadin.

Of course, the fact that he had a broken body that had been brought back to life was also a major factor.

[Use the Kazas Scripture to absorb the ever-growing Divine King’s Scripture. It’s too much magic to handle with your weakened body.]

‘But if I do that, my divine power will weaken. I won’t be able to protect the people.’

[Do you need to sacrifice yourself to protect the believers of the King’s Church? You should only save those who follow the teachings of the Cultivation School, the new medicine, as you desire.]

Araiel’s Voice was an artificial spirit left behind by the deceased Araiel, but like Araiel when she was alive, she showed unfiltered rage when talking about the King’s Church.

‘If you abandon people for being foolish and inadequate, no one will be left. If there is someone to blame for inadequacy and incompetence, it is only me. You shouldn’t blame others for their incompetence.’

[You’re stubborn. Ugh?]

Araiel’s Voice suddenly cut off.

The Nether forces had discovered Araiel’s Voice, which was scouting among them, and began to attack it.

Azadin immediately stopped manifesting Araiel’s Voice and instead cast the magic of the Divine King’s Scripture.

“I will change the direction of the wind! Everyone, retreat behind the barrier!”

Azadin shaped a barrier of light, making it narrow and sharp like the entrance to a valley, and the cold wind flowed at high speed, pouring into the Nether forces.

These Nether emissaries had brought the cold, but their forces were made of fabric and were naturally weak to the cold.

In an instant, the leading Nether forces froze into ice pillars and snow pillars.

“Wow…”

“My goodness.”

The soldiers following Azadin were also impressed by the sight. The sight of him using magic alone to unleash cold on hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of enemies was truly worthy of being called a Divine King from mythology.

Azadin was clearly showing the aspect of the Divine King that the King’s Church only spoke of in myths.

“Now, go!”

After freezing the enemies sufficiently with cold, Azadin withdrew the wind.

The Nether forces that had not frozen in the cold wind were moving towards them, but their numbers had been reduced to less than half in an instant.

Azadin’s subordinates, the Northern Aragas and the Herald Clan, simultaneously fired arrows, killing those who were still moving in the cold wind.

The Asendar elves, who were riding reindeer pulling sleds instead of horses on the ice, charged in, casting spells and showing excellent breakthrough power against the enemies who were dazed by the cold gusts and arrows.

“Hmm. They’re pushing themselves a bit too hard.”

Azadin grumbled, watching the elves competing for merit and deliberately charging deep into the enemy lines.

Even with the Rescue Knights joining, Azadin’s army had always lacked cavalry, and the elf cavalry that had joined this time were charging without regard for their lives.

“They must think it’s a chance to atone for their sins,” Ismail said, speaking for the elves.

“Well, if they’re spies, they can pretend to be loyal even in this situation, and if they’re not spies, they should live longer and do more. I don’t know why they take their lives so lightly.”

“That’s not something you should be saying, Your Majesty.”

Normally, it would be a serious offense to argue with a king or emperor like this, but Azadin did not like such strict court etiquette.

And he fully understood why Ismail was scolding him.

“I won’t d…”

He was about to say he wouldn’t die, but the moment he said that, blood seeped out of Azadin’s body again.

It was as if he was collapsing under the weight of the miracles, unable to bear it, like a piece of wood that had not dried properly being wedged under thousands of tons of stone.

Startled, Azadin quickly activated the Kazas Scripture to absorb the overflowing white magic.

And he cast a healing spell to heal himself as well.

Light of the King’s Flower spread high into the sky around Azadin, healing those who were injured.

“Huh?”

“Why now?”

Everyone was confused to see Azadin using such a healing miracle so early in the battle.

However, the closest aides who knew the inside story kept their mouths shut.

It was like throwing a lit powder keg out the window in a hurry when it was about to explode. Everyone understood that Azadin’s situation was so bad that he had to use divine magic in a fit of desperation.

‘That Northern Emperor is doing unnecessary things.’

‘I should have killed him.’

‘At the very least, I should have brought more troops. If it weren’t for His Majesty’s miraculous power, we would have faced an enemy more than twenty times our size in this snowfield, right?’

Azadin’s vassals and their escort forces numbered about fifty, and with the Northern Aragas who joined from Asendar, there were three hundred, and the elves numbered eighteen hundred.

The Chitai army was more than twenty times that size, but thanks to the cold gusts that froze them, half of their forces were wiped out in an instant.

In a normal war, even if the remaining enemy forces were larger, if more than half were wiped out at once, their fighting power would collapse.

It was a blow that could be called annihilation, but the Nether forces, controlled by magic, did not know fear and continued to charge.

However, the elves of Asendar quickly broke through and found the spider sorcerers among the enemies, killing them and disrupting the enemy’s control center.

Perhaps because it was the elves’ method, they knew it well. Moreover, these elves could protect themselves from the cold by using green magic even outside the area protected by Azadin, allowing for quite flexible troop movement.

“Even if they’re pushing themselves to gain merit, they’re useful. As expected, they’re all skilled in martial arts because they’ve lived so long,” Jibek said, describing the elf knights.

“But there must be spies among them,” Ismail distrusted the elves. They were the elves who had even betrayed the Northern Emperor Cohen.

Even if the elves, who had looked down on humans since the days of the Naga Empire, were now struggling to prove their loyalty, there would surely be spies among them who were still in league with the corrupted elves.

“I know. I accepted them with that in mind. Ah, damn it. My nosebleed won’t stop…”

Azadin frowned, blocking his nosebleed with a towel. He tried not to show weakness in front of his vassals as much as possible, but his body was collapsing uncontrollably.

At that moment, the ground, the ice within the ground, broke, and a giant hand emerged from under Azadin’s feet.

The Nether forces on the ground were bait; the real ones had moved through the frozen riverbed below.

Azadin’s sled was thrown into the sky, and Azadin’s body soared high along with it.

“Your Majesty!”

The vassals were shocked.

It was too accurate, targeting Azadin’s position. It was too precise to be a coincidence.

Was there a spy after all?

However, Azadin, still blocking his nose with a towel, gestured to his vassals, signaling them to calm down.

However, as he was flying high in the sky, only Ismail and Sion Etar, from the Herald Clan, who had good eyesight, and the Northern Aragas could see it.

“Ugh! Your Majesty!”

“What is this monster again?!”